


Even As Also I Am Known

by Solitae



Series: New Kirkwall (Modern AU) [6]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-29
Updated: 2013-05-29
Packaged: 2017-12-12 22:33:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/816816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solitae/pseuds/Solitae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This time, we get a look at what is going on on the other side of the Veil.</p><p>Ages before, the Veil was thickened and magic in Thedas ended.</p><p>On the other side of the Veil, there is impatience and hunger after being locked away for so long. A very few spirits have managed to possess hosts without destroying them within minutes. Justice happens to be one of those spirits, and Anders is his lucky host.</p><p>And now someone has murdered Nathaniel (which Anders isn’t upset about) and kidnapped Kahrin (which Anders is very upset about). Anders went to intercept them, and Justice manifested.</p><p>P.S. I suggest a <strong>very</strong> literal reading of Justice’s remarks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Even As Also I Am Known

Justice was angry, in the way young things grow angry. Self-righteous and sure, his fury echoed through the Fade, drawing attention from more than herself. Others crept close, knowing, recalling, some even hoping the boundary would rend. And with good reason. Justice could act through a host, but it would be a waste if it did. So many through the last time destroyed their hosts before they had a chance to get used to them. Foolishness. What use was a host if one only had to find another?

She watched with the others as Justice’s voice rose, and all grew silent save for him. 

_“This is the hand which wielded the weapon. It will end you!”_

Very dramatic, Justice. He had a flair for such pronouncements that she had never understood, but those clustered around him rustled, and she could see Innocence looking baffled as ever. Ignorance by another name, she thought as she settled her wings back. 

_“YOU HAVE LAID YOUR HANDS ON ANOTHER. I WILL LAY YOUR HANDS ON YOU.”_

And the boundary around him convulsed, shimmering and shaking, but it did not tear. Not yet at least. 

The fiery ones converged on him, and with another roar, they were thrown back, tumbling into each other. As they scrabbled against the boundary, others churned around them, and howls filled their realm. 

She launched herself away from the frenzy, taking one look back at it as the ripples began to flow outward. Save for one spot. But that was not the spot her mortal was in, so she made haste. All her careful work would not be undone by something so foolish.

It was easier to find her than it had been: her mortal was distressed. She would be a bright to those riding the waves, so Silence settled over her connection. She rode with the mortal as she moved further away from the center and watched as the frenzy spread. No tears emerged, no points that her hungry kin converged. Instead, they continued to spill outward along with the echoes.

Two other beacons sat nearly on top of her mortal’s, one that something shielded as she watched. Succor considered that one hers, she knew, but she had not found her yet tonight. 

Need lurked nearby, all claws and grasping. It poked at the unshielded beacon, then looked puzzled when it did not respond. “Mine, mine, mine,” it chattered, curling its claws around the connection only to have it slide away. It made a distressed sound and chased after it. Need was such _noisy_ company.

Her other company was not so loud. Not all of the inhabitants of the Fade fought to get through when these things happened. A stoic creature who bore close resemblance to a wall (what a strange aesthetic choice) observed Need’s antics with interest, fortunately without the need for chatter.

A subtle vibration thrumming through her drew her attention back, and she braced. They were coming. And then they were nearly on them, howling and shrieking and grasping.

She reared and threw her wings wide with a hiss, her eyes blazing. Her wings shook as the boundary rolled, but she held. They would not have what was hers. Most veered around her, seeking opportunity rather than challenge. One or two collided with her legs, and she kicked them away with a snarl. The edge of her wing snagged Need, and it tumbled as a few of the others collided with it.

A throaty laugh rose from the cacophony, and Succor slithered around her leg with a roll of her eyes. Cooing, she wrapped herself around the shielded beacon and stroked it with her near-mortal hands. “Mine,” she purred, batting away the last few curious creatures.

Those seeking weaknesses slid past, and Silence settled over her connection while Succor tried to tease a reaction from hers. Her fingers glided over it and she whispered as Silence watched. Rather than ease, the shielding thickened over the connection. Curious. It slid out of Succor’s grasp and snaked behind them. Succor pursued it with an irritable hiss, then suddenly drew up short. “Mine!”

“Only if you are able to grasp it,” a calm voice answered, and Silence nearly chuckled as she craned her head to look back.  A small shimmering figure that also bore a mortal’s shape touched the connection, and it stilled, resting against her. A low growl escaped Succor, but the other merely watched her placidly. “Go. The mortal is not yours tonight.”

Something on her other side made a sound of agreement, and she realized her other odd companion for the evening had moved closer and was contemplating the beacon that had evaded Need. 

Succor’s challenger knelt with hers. “Even were I to leave the mortal be, she would not be yours tonight. What you crave will not happen.” 

Succor glared then turned toward Silence with a searching look. What the horned creature could possibly want from her, Silence did not know and did not care to know. Whatever she found apparently displeased her, and with an echoing huff, Succor shot off after the wave.

And then they were alone, the murmur well beyond them. Only slight tremors remained of its passing, and the touch of the connection felt, oddly, much as it ever had, the mortal’s fear and distress clear but the boundary separating them held. Curious.


End file.
